David E. Evans

Associate Professor of Computer ScienceUniversity of Virginia

David Evans is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Virginia, where he has been a professor for 9 years. Evans leads the Security Research group at the University of Virginia and is the Founding Director of the Interdisciplinary Major in Computer Science.

Dr. Evans’ research focuses on the problem of producing complex software systems that can be trusted for critical applications even in the possible presence of malicious attackers. Dr. Evans is the principal investigator for several National Science Foundation awards, including a recent award on developing lightweight cryptosystems for improving the security and privacy of large-scale RFID systems in which tiny tags are used to identify items and implement key cards. Dr. Evans also studies the use of diversity to improve security. By automatically modifying underlying properties of a system, diversity techniques can make systems much more difficult to attack. Previous work includes development of secure protocols for wireless networking, detecting and mitigating malicious code, and research in program analysis that has produced a widely distributed tool used at thousands of academic and industrial sites. His research is published in the top conferences in computer security and software engineering, and his papers have been cited by other researchers over 2,000 times.

Dr. Evans believes computer science should be an essential part of any modern education. Computer science is the study of information processes. Whereas mathematics focuses on declarative (“what is”) knowledge, computing focuses on imperative (“how to”) knowledge. Understanding computing profoundly changes the way we think about what is and is not possible, as well as how we understand the world and ourselves. Dr. Evans’ teaching emphasizes the intellectual foundations of computing, and how to apply these foundations to understand and build interesting systems. The introductory computer science course he developed formed the basis for a new Interdisciplinary Major that launched in 2006 and graduated its first group of students last year. This major enables students in the College of Arts and Sciences to major in Computer Science while pursuing related interests in other fields. In addition, he has developed and regularly teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on computer security and cryptography.

Dr. Evans’ research and teaching have been recognized with an All-University Teaching Award, the Harold Morton Jr. SEAS Award for Teaching, ACM Jefferson Undergraduate Teaching Award, a University Teaching Fellowship, and an NSF CAREER Award. He was also selected as a Defense Science Study Group Fellow.

Dr. Evans received SB, SM, and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives with his wife in Charlottesville, Virginia. For more information, visit his web page and research group blog.